Achieving Balance


Balance, or a lack thereof, is a powerful tool for any poster layout. And that's because a lack of balance is disturbing. From a young age, we learn to avoid leaning trees, rocks, furniture, and ladders as potential dangers. Seeing imbalance in a design causes a similar visceral reaction: Are we going to fall over? Is something going to fall on us?

In composition, we assume a center vertical axis and expect to see equal weight on both sides. Balance is especially important in a poster design, because a poster will often need to stand alone, with nothing outside of the design to stabilize it. (Some designs, like magazine ads, can be balanced by the adjacent page or another nearby element.)

Symmetrical Balance

Nature is full of examples of symmetrical balance. Butterflies, maple leaves, and snowflakes can be evenly divided down the center. Humans are attracted to symmetrical designs partially because our own bodies are symmetrical (well, mostly).

Designers play with these visual expectations. In creating a poster, a designer will often place a main image or block of text along a vertical axis, distributing equal portions of the object on both sides. This makes the viewer feel comfortableeverything has been neatly ordered for him. When the "object" placed symmetrically is a face or body, it can help viewers make an emotional connection to the composition.

Symmetrical balance also occurs when multiple objects are placed in the same position on each side of a central vertical axis. This combines the benefits of repetition and symmetry to create a completely balanced, rock-solid design.

Figure 6.9. This striking design for Champion Athletic is almost entirely symmetrical along the vertical axis, making the design (and thus the product and brand) feel solid and comfortable. Bold color, lines, and use of negative space give it even more strength.


note

Symmetry on a horizontal axis can also make for a balanced design, though it doesn't generate the comfort level of vertical symmetry.


However, symmetry can have drawbacks. We don't always want a design to feel so solid, so comfortable, or so passive. By their nature, posters are often used to introduce new products, events, or ideas with the purpose of persuading viewers to take action. A more energetic composition may be required for such posters. Note that this doesn't mean developing a composition that is unbalancedit means using balance in a different way.

Asymmetrical Balance

Asymmetrical balance is a common strategy for adding oomph to a poster design. Designers use color, value, shape, and position to balance dissimilar forms without letting chaos rule. Truly asymmetrical balance can be difficult to achieveif the sizes, colors, or other elements are just a little off, the equilibrium will be as well.

Figure 6.10. The asymmetry in this Trackstar Motorsports poster makes the image arresting, and you can almost feel the scooter moving to the right.


Let's look at several types of asymmetrical balance and examine ways to achieve them.

BALANCE BY COLOR

Have you ever wondered what made the painting of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian tick? Mondrian devoted a great deal of his work to the balance of weight in colors. For example, one of his paintings features mostly white blocks with a large yellow block in the upper left and a small blue one in the lower right. The small area of blue perfectly balances the large area of yellow. To form such a balance, Mondrian moved colors around the grid until they were just right.

Figure 6.11. In this design exhibition poster, the large yellow field is beautifully balanced by the small black bar and color photos along the bottom.


Balancing colors is mostly intuitive, so practice is required. Here are some guidelines:

  • A small area of color can balance a much larger neutral area. Color attracts the eye more than neutrals, giving a spot of color equal weight to a large neutral area.

  • Warm colors carry more weight visually than cool colors. Oranges and reds jump out at us, while blues and greens tend to recede. Therefore, a large area of a cool color is needed to balance a small area of a warm color.

  • The more vivid the color intensity, the greater its weight. A richly saturated blue will seem heavier than a dull blue. How do you work with this? Balance small bits of vivid color with larger areas of muted color.

BALANCE BY VALUE

Asymmetrical balance is based on equal eye attraction, which occurs when dissimilar objects are balanced so that they are equally interesting to the eye. One element that invariably attracts our attention is value difference, the contrast of light and dark. Black against white creates a strong contrast. Gray against white creates less contrast and less visual weight.

tip

If you're not sure about the values of the color choices in your design, convert your image to grayscale momentarily. Seeing just white, gray, and black will give you a better sense of how your lights and darks balance.


How do you balance values to enhance a poster design? You can do it by balancing light and dark values intuitively, the same way you balance shapesacross the surface as a whole. Test your intuition by blocking out any questionable area and looking at the remaining picture. Then unblock it and see whether you feel better about the balance of values and shapes in the design.

Figure 6.12. Balance by value is used in this Cub Scouts poster. The blue dots on white create an illusion of very light bluemuch lighter than the rich red in the lower section. The elements in each section also balance by valuenotice the dark truck and the white lettering.


A contrast of values on each side of a poster creates so much eye interest that a tension is created between the sides. The eye skips from one to the other, wanting to pull the two components together. A visual energy and a subconscious excitement are created simply by the interaction of different elements in the composition.

BALANCE BY SHAPE AND POSITION

Balancing shapes will also help bring unity to your poster design. A large, simple shape (or image or text area) can be balanced by smaller, more complex elements. The larger shape will generally attract attention to the overall composition. The smaller elements will be viewed as secondary, but they can be just as important to the visual equilibrium of the poster.

Figure 6.13. In this diagram, the detailed field of varying stars is balanced by the simple, solid wave.


Figure 6.14. This type of balance works great in photography-based posters. The large, simple focal point of the man and sneaker balances against the distant and detailed street scene below him.


The positioning or placement of the elements plays an important role in balance. The farther an object is from the center of the page, the more visual weight it will suggest. This visual association is based on our experiences with balance in the real world: On a seesaw, for instance, a child on the end of a beam can lift an adult sitting near the center.

Figure 6.15. This outdoor ad for a technology firm dramatizes the concept of customization by showing different sizes. The balance between the XL and XS tees draws the eye to the poster.


A single, very small element can counterbalance a large one (or group) if placed all the way to one side of a poster. For example, a tiny logo might sit flush against the right edge of a horizontal ad while a large photo of a model takes up much of the left side. Although the logo is no match for the large image on its own, its position in the outermost edge of the composition levels the design.

This method of balance applies to angled compositions as well. A large object angled in one direction will usually require a counterbalance in the opposite direction, or the whole poster will appear crooked.




Sessions. edu Graphic Design Portfolio-Builder(c) Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator Projects
Graphic Design Portfolio-Builder: Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator Projects
ISBN: 0321336585
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 103
Authors: Sessions.edu

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